


Stellar Dynamics and Celestial Mechanics

by reykarnstein



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, SPACE GIRLFRIENDS, Space AU, carmilla's still a vampire?, mechanic!carmilla, outlaw!carmilla
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-03-17 14:58:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3533720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reykarnstein/pseuds/reykarnstein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura Hollis is a young, aspiring journalist who's stuck working in a diner on one of Styria's moons and has never been out of her own solar system. When a mysterious stranger shows up one night and offers her a ride out and the promise of an adventure, it's like a dream too good to be true. </p><p>Carmilla Karnstein, a spaceship mechanic, is wanted throughout the galaxies for, among other things, theft, piracy, fraud, murder, treason, spaceship traffic and safety violations, and general public indecency. She's probably going to get charged with kidnapping one of these days, but really, these things are all just misunderstandings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Offer

**Author's Note:**

> Alternatively titled "Pancakes and Water."

The thrumming of the elevator picked up as it reached the station.

"Here's to another boring night," Laura muttered under her breath as she stood up in preparation, hefting her backpack onto her shoulder. She remembered when she used to get excited at the sound; once, it symbolized freedom. She almost rolled her eyes at the thought now.

Laura had practically begged her dad to let her apply to the diner-- it had seemed exciting at the time, working on one of Styria's moons. And it was, at first. But she soon realized that while she may not have been stuck on the main planet, there was no way she'd leave orbit. Distance wasn't really freedom when you could only take one route.

It got to Laura sometimes, staring out of the clear elevator windows to the distant stars and planets out there and having to be confined to such a small place. She'd been to another planet once, on a school field trip in sixth grade. Her dad had, of course, been one of the parent chaperons and kept an overly watchful eye on her there like he does when they're on Styria, so it wasn't much of an adventure. Especially considering wandering from the group or tour was expressly forbidden.

So that didn't really count.

She closed her eyes at the puff of air the doors let out when they open at the station and stepped off, swiping her id card to get through the gates. It usually took her under a minute to get to work, but with the construction for a new fuel stop the time had risen to a couple of minutes. She'd purposefully left out the information about the construction when talking to her dad; he'd probably demand she stop going to work if he didn't have a heart attack at her being so close to potential dangers first.

As boring as Laura's job was, it was still the only bit of freedom she had. She wasn't about to give it up.

"Hollis!" A familiar wave of red hair greeted her at the back entrance and Laura couldn't resist the urge to smile. She'd known Danny since middle school-- high school, really, since Danny was two grades above of her. Practically two feet above her, too. She tried not to be bitter.

(Even though she could admit she found taller girls to be, well, _attractive_ , Laura still wasn't exactly happy with her height).

The two had bonded over an enthusiasm for Earth literature. As a freshman, Laura spent most of her time in the school library reading. Danny had been the assistant librarian at the time and had stuck up a conversation one day. They'd been friends ever since.

Well, sort-of-friends. Laura wasn't exactly sure, but lately it kind of felt like they were dating. Maybe. She was a bit too nervous to ask.

"Hi, Danny," Laura answered, beaming up at her. Whatever their relationship status was, she still enjoyed being around her. She glanced over Danny's appearance and noticed she wasn't wearing her uniform. "You going somewhere?"

"Yeah, the Summer Society has a football match tonight. Cochrane let me off early by some miracle." Danny said and Laura's stomach dropped in disappointment. She wasn't looking forward to spending the night alone in the diner, especially with the grumpy manager and cook.

"Oh. Well, have fun!" Laura smiled again and stepped around the taller girl, her head snapping up when she felt an arm on her shoulder. "Was there... something else?" Danny wasn't one for lingering when there was any activity by the Summer Society going on.

"Are you doing anything after your shift?" Danny looked down at her, a slightly nervous grin on her face.

"Sleeping," Laura replied honestly. It was ten at night now and she was scheduled to go until four in the morning. She didn't mind the late shifts that much; there weren't many customers and on especially slow nights she was able to read an entire book. "Why? Is there something going on?"

"Well, after the game me and some of the Summer Society girls were planning on hanging out at Elsie's house. I was wondering if maybe you'd want to come by?"

"Sure!" She could probably use some fun after being stuck alone in the diner for six hours.

"I'll see you then?" Danny smiled and Laura realized that maybe this was more than 'hanging out'.

"Yeah. Bye, Danny!" She called out as the redhead sprinted away.

Was it a date? At least they would be in a group. Laura didn't know why she was so nervous; it suddenly felt like she was a freshman in high school with a massive crush all over again.

Laura shook her head, a small grin plastered on her face as she entered the diner.

* * *

Laura was halfway through Dracula when the door jingled, signaling the arrival of a customer. Laura’s head shot up in surprise; the stretch between 1 and 3 am was usually completely static and clients were rare. Sure, you’d get the occasional college student during exam week, but that had been months ago.

“I’ll be with you in a second, seat yourself!” Laura called out, shoving a discarded receipt into her novel as a makeshift bookmark and hurriedly putting her apron back on.

The apron, which was part of the uniform, was, frankly, hideous and Laura took it off whenever she had a break.

“Welcome to Styria’s Moon Diner,” Laura said once she had made it over to the table. It was getting harder to stay cheerful when saying ‘Styria’s Moon Diner.’ She’s not sure if she could come up with a more uncreative name if she tried.  
“My name is Laura Hollis and I’ll be your waitress this… morning,” she fumbled, sneaking a glance at the clock to check the time. Who even came to diners at 2AM? Maybe it was more popular in other solar systems. Maybe she needed to get out of here, she thought for most likely the millionth time that hour.

Laura definitely needed to get out of here.

She glanced up and finally got a look at the customer, her eyes widening slightly.

Who came to diners at 2AM? Apparently creepy people wearing questionable bandanas so you couldn’t see their face. And took too long to answer.

Seriously, what was this woman wearing on her face? There was some sort of veil covering her head and eyes accompanying the suspicious bandana.

“Are you ready to order?” Laura finally said, the silence stretching out far too long for her liking. Especially when she couldn’t see any of the facial expressions the customer could be making.

All she got was a slight shake of the head, which she took to mean a ‘no’. Okay then.

“Well, I’ll be over at the counter, so just uh-- wave me down when you are ready.” Laura quickly scurried back. Yeah, so maybe she was a little bit freaked out at the absence of verbal communication and the whole concealed identity thing at 2 in the morning.

There was also a tugging of curiosity in her gut. The kind that made her want to pursue journalism and go on adventures. That made staying on Styria even more unbearable. But she wasn’t about to bombard Ms. Creepy Customer with questions.

Laura stopped by the kitchen and rapped on the door lightly to alert Cochrane that they had a customer. She didn’t expect any response from the grumpy old woman and she got none.

She’d settled down back behind the counter and had gotten through six more pages (they were just about to kill Lucy) when a clear “Cutie,” rang out into the room. It took Laura a few seconds to register that the stranger was calling her over.

“Are you ready to order now?” Laura asked, quickly returning to the table.

“I am,” the woman answered. Her voice was low and raspy and… Laura really need to be paying attention to what she was ordering instead of getting caught up in her voice.

“I’ll have the ‘Papa Pisces’ Perihelion Pancake Platter,’” the stranger drawled out. Laura winced at sympathy at the ridiculous name; the names of the other items on the menu weren’t much better. But it gave their small diner personality, Cochrane would growl out threateningly, and besides, the locals liked them. It was nice having someone other than her friends to share in the cringe-worthiness of the weird names.

“Anything else I can get you? Something to drink?”

“You got any alcohol here?”

Laura blinked at the question. Pancakes and alcohol? Well, she supposed, it was two in the morning and she was wearing a bandana. “The bar’s closed, sorry.”

“Just water then,” the woman sighed as she put the plastic menu back on the table, leaning back against the booth.

Laura nodded and returned to the counter, slipping a small order form for the platter under the kitchen window to Cochrane. She picked up a glass and filled it at the tap before going back to the table.

“Your order will be right out for you in a few minutes,” Laura said as she put the glass down in front of the woman.

“Thanks, cutie.” Laura was once again caught off guard at the attractiveness of her voice. And the pet name.

Laura really wished she could see the stranger’s face. To at least get a sense of age, maybe. ‘Cutie’ coming from someone around Laura’s age had a very different effect than coming from someone, say, Cochrane’s age.

But Laura was skeptic there was any living being even close to Cochrane’s age.

“Sure,” was all she came up with in return before returning to the counter.

* * *

 

“One Perihelion Platter,” Laura said as she slid the plate onto the table. “Anything else I can get for you?”

“Why don’t you sit down?”

The question startled Laura and she frowned, considering. “I don’t think I’m really--”

“Look, it’s not like there’s anyone else here, you look bored out of your mind in that little corner over there, and I could use some company,” the stranger cut her off. Laura assumed from her tone of voice that her eyebrows were raised. If she even had eyebrows.

“Fine.” Laura surprised herself by sitting down opposite her, crossing her arms awkwardly. She couldn’t deny that she was intrigued by the stranger. Or that she could use some company herself other than dear Jonathan Harker. Laura watched her eat for a minute before attempting to start a conversation. “Aren’t bandanas a little outdated?”

Of course that was what came out of her mouth. She had obviously mastered the art of being smooth. But it was something Laura was curious about and wanted to know the answer to.

“Maybe,” the stranger shrugged, shoving a piece of pancake into her mouth. Or at least, that’s what Laura assumed she was doing. Though she couldn’t see her mouth underneath the fabric, it was perfectly reasonable to assume she was actually eating the food she had ordered.

Unless she didn't have a mouth, in which case, why would she be eating at all? Her voice sounded too human to be another species-- and while androids were making progress in mimicking the human voice all the time, they weren't that good yet.  
Laura stopped thinking about it before her thoughts could take her any further. Plus, it was probably rude to speculate on whether or not someone had a mouth or not. Or eyebrows.

But it would explain the whole bandana-veil-mask thing going on. Maybe.

“So why are you wearing one, then?” It might be nice to know if the person she was talking to had a mouth or not.

“Have you heard of fashion, cutie?”

Laura tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. That would be an acceptable answer, but… “You just said it was outdated!”

“I said maybe,” the stranger put her fork down and picked up her water. “Why are you so interested?”

“It’s not everyday you see people wearing bandanas. Certainly not people who come into this diner. Or to Styria,” Laura defended herself. It was true; almost all of her customers were either locals or regulars stopping by before continuing on to the trading markets.

“Maybe I’m going to a place where bandanas are fashionable,” the stranger countered playfully before taking a sip of water. She had to lift her bandanna slightly to do so and Laura caught a glimpse of lips-- so she did have a mouth.

“Where are you going?”

The woman shrugged. “Not anywhere in particular. I drift, mostly. What about you, creampuff? You going anywhere?”

Laura’s face scrunched briefly at the nickname. Creampuff? Really? “Nope,” Laura sighed resentfully at the sore topic.

“Do you want to? Travel, I mean.”

“Of course,” Laura nodded eagerly, her cheeks reddening slightly at the quickness of her response.

“Where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere that’s not here.” She’d been waiting to get out of Styria since she was born, practically.

“Hmm.” The stranger seemed to consider her words, putting the glass back on the table. “Why haven’t you left?”

“I don’t exactly have a license to travel the galaxy.” Laura looked down awkwardly. That, and her dad would probably have an aneurysm. “Or any means of getting out of here.”

“You should come with me.”

Laura laughed incredulously. “What?”

“I’m serious. I could use some company travelling as well as here.” The stranger was leaning forward slightly and Laura’s heartbeat sped up. Is she serious?

“All I know about you is that you think bandanas are fashionable,” Laura protested. Wait, was she actually considering this? Flying off Styria with a complete stranger?

Her desperation was reaching new extremes.

“Tell you what. I’ll be back here in a week; you can give me your answer then.” The stranger stood up, pulling out a couple credits out of her pocket to put on the table.

Sensible Laura Hollis would have had an answer for her then and there. No. What was she, a helpless heroine waiting to be swept off into the galactic sunset by some sort of savior?

Future Journalist Laura Hollis also had an answer. Get the hell out of here as soon as you can.

Regular Laura Hollis was left standing speechless watching the back of the stranger disappear out of the diner.

She’d definitely need that week to think about it.


	2. Revelations and Reevaluations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura deals with new information concerning the identity of the stranger who offered to take her travelling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to publish this earlier today but things got in the way. Updates are probably going to be every weekend. Thank you for the comments!

“Laura. L. _Laura_. Styria’s Moon Diner to Laura.”

“Hmm?” Laura’s eyes focused on her friend.

“You’re zoning out again,” Lafontaine said, eyeing her critically.

“Sorry,” Laura smiled apologetically, looking down at the dishes they were currently washing. She had been rather quiet that afternoon, which was pretty unusual. It had been two days since the night the strange woman had offered to take her travelling and Laura’s mind was having a hard time focusing on anything else.

A _really_ hard time.

And she’d only realized after the woman had left that she didn’t have any sort of identification from her-- no name, no ship model, no number-- nothing. No actual guarantee that she was ever coming back. Or any clue at all regarding her identity.

Laura jumped back at the snapping fingers in her face.

“Laura, you’re doing it again. What the heck’s wrong with you? Did something happen with Danny?” Shit. If LaFontaine was bringing up Danny voluntarily they must really be worried about her.

“Nothing happened with Danny,” she said quickly, scrubbing at a plate. Less than nothing happened with Danny. She’d managed to forget her promise to hang out at Elsie’s house and had gone straight home after her shift ended instead.

She’d woken up to a series of texts from Danny that escalated in worry as they went on. It tired Laura just reading them. So much so that she slept for another half hour before getting up and texting Danny back an _I’m fine, sorry I couldn’t make it! I was exhausted after work and completely forgot about it. Make it up to you another time? :)_

She liked Danny, she really did, but she didn’t need another person sending her overbearing and overprotective texts in bulk. Her dad already had that covered. Who Danny had called, by the way, to make sure that Laura had gotten home safe after not answering her phone. Which was sweet and all, but irritating considering how unnecessary it was. Even if Laura had promised to meet up later.

In her defense, it had been a rather dramatic and exciting night and Laura’s thoughts were still stuck there.

Highlighted by the fact LaFontaine was currently having to tug a plate she’d washed three times in a row out of her hands.

“LaF, I’m sorry,” Laura repeated helplessly, picking up a dishcloth and drying her hands. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind.” A hell of a lot.

“No shit, care to share what?”

_I’m considering leaving Styria for heavens knows how long with a complete stranger who mentioned she had a spaceship and offered to take me with her but she also said she doesn’t know where she was going and we’ve only said about ten words to each other and I’d like to emphasize that she is a complete stranger again and I actually have no idea what she looks like which is even more concerning to me considering she could be, like, an old pervert or possibly a serial killer._

That probably wouldn’t go over very well with LaF. She was contemplating what exactly she should say when the crime segment of the early evening news came on and all heads in the diner turned towards the TV screen to watch.

"Today in Styria crime: Notorious freebooter Carmilla Karnstein is once again at large in the galaxies and sightings of her ship have been spotted in nearby systems. She was last seen at the Silas Trading Market two days ago.”

A blurry image of Karnstein was shown on the screen and Laura took notice of a bandana around her neck. Hmm. Maybe bandanas were becoming more popular. She wasn’t one to extensively keep up with the current fashion trends.

It took Laura a moment to realize that the image was actually a short video clip showing her conversing with some sort of mechanical parts salesman. She was about to turn back to the pile of dishes when…  
No.

 _No._  
It couldn’t be.

It was.

Even with the horrible, garbled quality of the audio, Laura recognized that voice.  
It didn’t even matter what she was saying; just the general sound of it was enough.

No. Yes. Fuck.

This was bad.

Laura was frozen in place, unable to tear her eyes away from the screen.

She really wished she’d been keeping up with the updates on android technology. Voice imitation couldn’t be that impossible, could it? Or the coincidence it would have to take for an android with Carmilla Karnstein’s voice showing up in the same area Carmilla Karnstein was last seen in?

The clip ended and the newscaster came back on. “If you have any information on Karnstein’s whereabouts or activities, please inform your local patrollers immediately. Remember, this young lady is one of the most dangerous criminals in our galaxy today, and… ” The newscaster turned to his co hosts and started some discussion about pirating gaining popularity and safety measures to take against it. Laura tuned out their voices and focused on the bar of text on the bottom of the screen listing out all of the various offences Karnstein had been charged with.

Her heart dropped further into her stomach with each addition to the list. Old pervert, serial killer, or... ruthless outlaw. Who was also a killer. But she wasn’t old and at least sexual assault didn’t seem to be anywhere on her record.

Then again, with a list that long, Laura would want to double check to make sure. What the hell had she gotten herself into?

…But it wouldn’t matter, right? She wasn’t going to be going anywhere. Because even though she’d never seen her face, she’d sure as hell heard that voice before. And no matter how much Laura wanted to believe so, she knew that it wasn’t an android with advanced voice imitation software.

Telling LaFontaine was definitely out of the picture.

* * *

Pros of travelling with a notorious criminal:  
1\. Getting out of Styria  
2\. Best journalistic opportunity ever given to anyone

Cons of travelling with a notorious criminal:  
1\. She's a C R I M I N A L  
2\. Possible chance of getting murdered  
3\. More than likely chance of getting robbed  
4\. High probability of arrest  
5\. Completely dangerous  
6\. No guarantee of ever returning and seeing loved ones ever again

Laura dropped her pencil in frustration and let her head fall to her desk with a groan. As much as she’d tried not to, she was still considering Karnstein’s offer. Her brain felt fried just thinking about it; she’d gone over every possible scenario she could come up with in her head multiple times. Her most recent list of pros and cons stared back at her mockingly, the empty lines underneath the ‘cons’ section not even needed to be filled.

Laura knew where stood, logically. There was an infinite list of cons and reasons she shouldn’t go, shouldn’t even still be considering this. What she should be doing was considering giving up the information she knew on Karnstein to the authorities and forgetting everything else that happened.

But she… couldn’t. Not that easily. Not when the very real chance of getting off of Styria was dangling in front of her face like a giant cookie.

A cookie with Carmilla Karnstein’s name on it. Much less appetizing, and probably poisoned, but still made up of sugary goodness.

There was no way another opportunity like this would come up again anytime soon. Her father expected her to go to the local college and Laura didn’t really have any other options as far as colleges on the nearby planets. And after college, she’d probably be stuck with a generic, boring job. A job that would almost certainly not be journalism or require any interplanetary travel.

At least she’d complete her education. If she took up Karnstein’s offer, there might be no chance of higher schooling. With Karnstein being on the run and all, Laura could see how it would be hard to fit in.

Laura knew which she valued more out of a chance at a career in journalism or going to college.

You know what? Karnstein might not even be coming back. All of this worry could be for absolutely nothing, Laura tried to reassure herself. Karnstein hadn’t given a time, just a date. It was only coincidental that Laura was working the same shift as the night they’d met. And as far as she knew, there was no planning to how she would manage to pick Laura up if there were other customers in the diner. Considering that she was a well-known criminal, it’d draw attention, for sure.

But was there any planning for this at all? It had definitely seemed to Laura to be an impulsive request for company, but maybe Karnstein did have a plan. Or was using this week to plan something.

Whatever the plan was or wasn’t, it wasn’t a very good one.

* * *

Laura had one day left to decide and the current news headline seemed to be mocking her.

“Carmilla Karnstein Suspected In Local Spaceship Factory Robbery, One Injured,” read the bolded words on her TV screen. “After recent sightings, it’s no surprise to see this seasoned burglar acting out again. There was a commotion at EK’s Spaceship Dealership early in the morning when an alarm was set off by one of EK’s employees after he allegedly saw someone breaking into the manufacturing warehouse before he was shot in the arm. The robber escaped before patrollers arrived, leaving one-third of the warehouse destroyed by what appears to be a fire caused by fuel leakage. This pattern of theft accompanied by violence and destruction is now becoming a trademark of Carmilla Karnstein, who authorities suspect is responsible for this break-in.”

The segment had been on repeat for the whole day as little bits of updated information came through. Though the event had happened on the neighboring planet Habsburg and not Styria itself, Styrians were still warned to be on alert as Karnstein’s locations were still unknown.

Laura sighed, flipping the switch on her couch to mute the TV. She was doubtful any new information would appear in the time between now and when Karnstein had said she’d meet Laura back at the diner and the newscaster’s voice was getting repetitive.

What was intriguing to Laura was how little information they had on Karnstein; the only things the news station had mentioned about her past was her home planet and that she was under thirty years old. Laura had searched her in the space database cloud but no one seemed to know anything about her.

“Bet you’d love to do an investigative journalist piece on her, huh, Hollis?” Came Danny’s voice as the taller girl plopped down on the couch next to her, handing Laura one of the two grape sodas she had. Laura’s flickered to the other one in mild surprise; Danny usually stayed away from unhealthier beverages and foods.

This was Laura’s way of “making it up” to her; she’d invited Danny over for the afternoon to hang out; while it was more personal, being just the two of them instead of a group of people at a party, it was more familiar territory to Laura. As familiar as you could get, really, with it being Laura’s home.

She still wasn’t sure if this was a date or not.

“Yeah,” Laura sighed. If only Danny knew how much of a reality that was. An actual decision that Laura was currently trying to make. "What do you think it would be like to travel with her?" she asked casually, an idea coming into her head. Just because she couldn’t outright ask Danny about her situation, she could still get input.

“Pretty cool, actually,” Danny shrugged. “It’d be interesting.”

“Yeah?” Laura looked at her in surprise, her eyes widening.

“If getting chased down by patrollers and robbing spaceship depots is your thing, for sure,” Danny laughed, making Laura roll her eyes.

“I’m serious!” Laura protested, shifting so she was sitting on the armrest of the couch. “If someone hypothetically _did_ get to travel with her do an investigative piece.”

“They’d have to be pretty damn ballsy to pull that off.” Danny shook her head, taking a sip from her soda. “Karnstein would probably kill anyone who tried to, anyway. I don’t think we’re going to learn any new information about her anytime soon and it’s doubtful she’ll talk if they catch her.”

Okay, so another tally mark next to number two on her cons list (“possible chance of getting murdered”). See? This was the sort of input she needed.

Laura mentally put in “ballsy” for number three on her pros list. And Danny had said her getting caught was unlikely, right? So maybe worrying about arrest wasn’t as much as an issue.

It definitely wouldn’t be an issue if she was killed by Karnstein.

And technically she already did have new information on Karnstein, right? She liked pancakes and thought bandanas were fashionable. And was lonely.

“What if she invited them?” Shit. She probably shouldn’t have asked that. But it was a vital piece of information that would factor into the probability of whether or not Laura would get killed. Danny looked at her strangely and Laura had to resist the urge to wince.

“That wouldn’t happen,” Danny said dismissively.

“Why not? If you don’t have any information on her, how do you know what she’s like?” Laura blurted out, biting down on her tongue before she could say any more. She should’ve dropped the subject the second it came up.

“Laura, she’s practically infamous for her pirating and violence. I think you can get a pretty good idea of what she’s like by reading her criminal record,” Danny frowned, putting her soda down on the floor. “Why the sudden obsession with her? Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, Danny.” Laura forced a smile on her face and tried to sound annoyed. It wasn’t that hard with how quickly Danny jumped into overprotective mode.

“Are you sure? If you’re not feeling well--” Danny started worriedly before she was cut off by Laura.

“I’m _fine_ , Danny,” she repeated. “Heavens forbid I actually get excited and show interest in something that relates to my dream career.”

She felt a twinge of regret at her harshness when Danny’s face dropped and the taller girl apologized. “I’m sorry, Laura. I didn’t mean to--”

“It’s okay,” Laura cut her off again. While the excessive amounts of unneeded concern irritated her, she didn’t blame Danny for being worried. She had been acting strange the past few days and it didn’t surprise her that Danny picked up on it as well as LaFontaine. She was glad enough that her father hadn’t noticed anything.

There were a few moments of silence before Danny glanced at her watch and cleared her throat. “Uh, practice starts in an hour so I’d better get going. I’ll see you later?”

“Of course,” Laura nodded as they both got up from the couch. “Thanks for coming over.”

“Thanks for having me,” Danny said as Laura walked her to the door. There was another beat of silence when they reached the door and stood facing each other and Danny opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but she closed it before anything came out.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Laura finally said. Danny was on the morning shift right after Laura’s.

If she was still on Styria tomorrow.

Danny opened the door and was stepping out when she turned back slowly, hesitating.

“What?” Laura asked. Did she leave anything inside? She didn’t remember Danny bringing anything with her.

“Nothing.” Danny turned back, stepping out and throwing a “bye, Laura,” over her shoulder.

Laura stood in the doorway and watched as she disappeared down the street. She was really going to miss Danny while she was gone.

Wait. “I’m not going anywhere,” Laura muttered unconvincingly under her breath, frowning as she closed the door.

* * *

She knew it was futile to keep lying to herself when she started packing that night.


	3. Preparations For Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura really hopes Karnstein shows up and that she doesn't get arrested by patrollers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a longer chapter thanks to Easter weekend.

Laura's leg was bouncing borderline uncontrollably as she rode the elevator up to Styria's moon, her knuckles turning white as she gripped her backpack (noticeably heavier than the one she usually took to work). She hadn't been this nervous sine the first time she rode the elevator up; heart pounding in her throat, the sensation of the butterflies in her stomach being sucked down to her gut by gravity, muscles painfully tense, and eyeing all of her possessions nervously as if they might fly out. 

She was extremely nervous. 

It was an uncomfortable reminder of the days when this had been the norm for her; the feeling of all these sensations without the accompaniment of an elevator zooming out into space-- the panic she'd felt after her mom had died. And this time she didn't have the comfort of her blankets or her dad to cling onto for safety. 

 _But no one's dying,_ Laura reminded herself, trying to calm her breathing.  _There's nothing to be afraid of, you're just excited._

Well, apart from the fact that there  _were_ still things to be afraid of. A lot of things. Like the reality that Carmilla Karnstein was dangerous and Laura was willfully choosing to go travel with her on small chance that maybe she'd be able to write an article about her adventures and the inside life of Karnstein. Or that she had no idea where in the cosmos she was going and was putting blind faith in said dangerous person. And also taking into account the not impossible chance of her getting arrested or killed by patrollers hunting Karnstein (if Karnstein didn't kill her first). 

So yeah, sure, there were things to be afraid of. But there was still excitement underneath all of Laura's apprehension. A lot of excitement. She was finally going to get out of Styria. 

While her muscles relaxed fractionally when she stepped off the elevator, her grip on her backpack didn't slacken the entire walk to the diner.  _What if she doesn't come_? Laura wondered as she passed the construction. That was the most important "what if". If she didn't show, all the other "what ifs" would be voided and no longer applicable or worth spending time thinking about. Laura could go back to her normal life and stop worrying about the possibilities of danger and death in her near future.

And also kiss all of her dreams of travel and journalism goodbye. 

Laura tried to push the thought out of her mind.  _What if_ wasn't an option tonight. Not when she'd finally made up her mind.

* * *

Danny wasn't waiting for her at the back door when she arrived; she must've left early for a Summer Society game or practice. Laura was losing track of how many of those things Danny attended. 

The absence of her presence would make going through with this easier, Laura reasoned. The less goodbyes Laura had to say, the better. It would just be more painful if she saw Danny before she left and she wasn't sure that she would be able to keep her plans a secret if she got overly emotional. 

While disappointing (she didn't want the last time she talked to Danny -- not the last time, just the last time before she came back-- to have been an argument), it was good, in a way, that she wasn't there. 

On the subject of goodbyes, Laura's mind flitted over the memory of her dad earlier in the evening. She'd hugged him for a few seconds longer than usual, but he hadn't given her any indication that he suspected something was up; lingering hugs weren't out of the ordinary for the Hollis family, especially after the death of her mother. 

The other person who kept coming up in her head was LaFontaine. They had become one of Laura's best friends over the summer, working together at the diner. She hoped that Cochrane would be able to find a quick replacement for LaF's sake; Laura didn't want to bog them down with any extra work with her absence. LaF was working on an intensive biology project and would be crushed if they'd have to give it up because of having to spend overtime at the diner. 

Maybe Danny would be able to pick up for her if Cochrane couldn't find someone right away. But that would mean Danny would have to miss out on Summer Society meetings. 

Laura really hoped Cochrane would find someone to fill her spot fast. Causing her friends extra stress apart from what they'd be faced with with her leaving was the last thing she wanted to do.

Laura sighed and opened the back door of the diner, shrugging her backpack off her shoulder and letting it drop onto the floor of the backroom with a thunk. Were backpacks mostly full of clothes supposed to make thunking noises when dropped? 

 Laura frowned at it for a second before remembering the books she had put at the bottom. She'd spent a good hour in front of her bookshelf while deciding what to pack. Laura knew that she could access all of her books and more on her phone, but she liked holding them, the physicality of it. And her books would be a familiar piece of home she could afford to let take up space in her bag.

She'd settled on Dracula because she hadn't managed to read any more of it in the past week with her thoughts focused on Karnstein, and, of course, her first copy of Harry Potter.

She looked up and scanned the diner, finding it to be completely deserted. which wasn't very surprising. Laura tried to quell down the twisting in her stomach as she stepped into the back room; while she hadn't exactly expected Karnstein to be waiting for her when she arrived, she didn't really have a solid time frame of when she would be coming. 

 She stared at her uniform hanging from the wall hook, wondering if she should even bother putting it on. It was unlikely that anyone else would be coming in before Laura estimated Karnstein and her would be departing. 

She decided against it-- any excuse to not wear that hideous apron should not be passed over -- and sat down on a stool behind the counter, kicking her foot off the ground so she spun around lazily. Cochrane was most definitely asleep, which was good. The last thing she'd need was Cochrane calling the patrollers on her for inviting a wanted pirate into her diner. 

But Laura hadn't been the one to give the invitation, really. Karnstein was the one who asked her, after all. But details of who invited whom probably wouldn't matter to the patrollers. 

The counter was cool against her cheek as she lay her head down against it with a small sigh. She'd made her decision, she'd packed her bag, and now the only thing left was to wait for Karnstein.

Hopefully she would't keep Laura waiting long. 

* * *

 

 2AM. It had been exactly one week since her meeting with Karnstein and feelings of doubt had began to wash over Laura once more. She muffled a yawn as she checked her watch for the third time in the past minute. Maybe criminals weren't used to being punctual, Laura thought sleepily. Or maybe Karnstein was referring to one week since the moment she'd left; it'd been what, 2:40ish?

What if Karnstein was operating on another week schedule? What if she was used to weeks longer than 168 hours? What if she'd already come?

Or maybe she was just reading too much into "one week". There was probably a bit wore wiggle room when it came to exact time in weeks, right? They were measured by days, usually, not hours. 

Laura glanced at her watch again, trying not to get over-worried. 2:02. She'd waiting one hundred sixty-eight hours and two minutes. She could manage thirty eight more minutes.

38ish minutes, she reminded herself. Not everyone payed as much attention to punctuality as her. 

It was just after 2:30 when her phone beeped in her pocket. 

Laura blinked her eyes open and shook her head, slightly disoriented after her impromptu twenty-six minute nap. Who would be calling her?  _Had_ she done anything to raise suspicion? When had she even fallen asleep? _  
_

She pulled her phone out and tapped the screen. Instead of her usual background and controls, there were a few lines of code and only the answer and terminate call buttons remained. Okay, that was weird.

Though her phone wasn't ringing, Laura hit the answer call button anyway. It wasn't like her phone was giving her many options.

"Hello?" She asked hesitantly. 

"Cupcake." Laura sat straight up, almost falling off of her stool and losing all traces of drowsiness. How did Karnstein get her number?

"How are you doing that?" 

"Your phone's outdated. No security," came the reply. That wasn't the explanation Laura wanted, but it wasn't the most important thing in that moment. 

"Where are you?" Laura slid off her stool, standing up and trying to look out the diner windows. It was too dark to see anything properly, but she felt the need to look anyway. 

"I'm waiting outside in the back."

Laura's breath caught before she answered. What if she wasn't waiting outside? Or it was a trap? What if she was really waiting to kill her behind the diner? There wouldn't be any evidence. 

Or a motive, really, which comforted Laura somewhat. Still, she should be safe.

"Why don't you come inside?" Laura suggested after a moment of deliberation. There were cameras inside the diner. If anything happened to her, at least there would be documented evidence and a trail. 

Unless Karnstein destroyed the cameras, which Laura wouldn't put past her, considering her talent for burglary and vandalism. And also, apparently, screwing up technology. 

"If you're coming with me, we need to leave," Karnstein said tersely. 

"How do I know it's really you?" Laura tried. It was a weak excuse, and there wasn't really a question, but it was worth a shot at getting her to come inside.

There was a sigh on the other end of her phone.

"You get many offers to go travelling from strangers who call you cupcake?"

Well, fine, then.

Laura was opening her mouth to respond when the connection abruptly dropped out. "Crap," she muttered under her breath. Had she just ruined her chance? What if Karnstein left her behind?

The sound of the door jingling open made Laura whip her head around so fast she saw stars.

Stars that weren't... scientifically accurate. Or that she was used to seeing when blacking out. 

Laura blinked, realizing that she was staring at a piece of fabric with a small repeating star design on it when her eyes focused. 

A piece of fabric that was hanging off of Carmilla Karnstein's face. Sheesh, had her taste in bandanas gotten even worse since Laura last saw her? She didn't want to go anywhere where they were considered fashionable, Laura decided. She might not have any idea of where she wanted to go, but she knew that much.

"Satisfied, sweetheart?" Came Karnstein's voice and Laura almost did a double take. She'd forgotten what it sounded like in person, after a week of hearing grainy recordings from security cameras and then a fuzzy connection on her phone.

"Yes," was all Laura could come out with, letting her phone slide out of her hand and into her pocket. Normally she would have put it into her bag with how small her pockets were, but normally she wasn't worried about needing it so much in case she was in an emergency or dangerous situation. And her backpack was already stuffed. She'd thought about bringing a suitcase but hadn't in fear someone would question her.

"Well," Karnstein began, raising her eyebrows. She  _did_ have eyebrows, which Laura could see thanks to the absence of the hooded veil thing she had been wearing the last time she saw her. 

Now if only the bandana had been absent, too. 

"I know who you are," Laura couldn't stop herself from blurting out. Dammit, was she even trying to control her words around Karnstein? She failed to see how her brain thought saying that was a good idea. 'Hey, I know you're a wanted freebooter, which you were obviously keeping a secret from me, but, you know, whatever.' 

"You're still here," Karnstein pointed out smoothly. Laura didn't know what she was expecting, but it wasn't a casual three-word response. 

"I'm working," Laura countered defensively. It wasn't like she had a choice whether to be there or not. It  _was_ her shift, after all. 

"Doesn't look like there's any work going on to me," Karnstein mused, moving closer to the counter. It was a pretty easy observation to make; only a third of the lights in the back of the diner were on, none of the appliances were running, and Laura wasn't wearing her uniform. Her hair was also slightly messy from where it had been resting against the counter.

"I just got here." 

"You were here before I was. Are you coming or not?" Karnstein leaned against the counter, only a foot or so away from Laura.

"Shouldn't we maybe talk about logistics? Details? Like where we're going or when I should expect to come back or..." Laura rambled before trailing off awkwardly. She wasn't really thinking any of her sentences through. "Maybe an actual introduction instead of me just finding out who you are from the evening crime report?" 

Karnstein looked at her for a second and Laura wondered if she'd offended her in some way before she let out a small laugh and tugged her star bandana down around her neck. It was a much better look on her, Laura decided. 

A  _much_ better look on her. Laura was having trouble looking away. The wanted pictures they'd shown on the news didn't do her face any justice.   


Was it fair for someone who had murdered other people to look so attractive?

"Fine. I'm Carmilla." She held her hand out and Laura shook it after regaining her senses. "As for logistics and details, we can talk on my ship."

 _You're not in high school anymore,_ Laura reminded herself, a little bit alarmed at how she was reacting.  _Control yourself._

It embarrassed her that she even had to tell herself that. 

"Nice to meet you," Laura stuttered out and Carmilla smirked like she knew the effect she was having on Laura. The smirk wasn't helping. 

Carmilla looked to door and back to Laura expectantly.  "We should get going."

Laura nodded once, knowing she was out of time to stall her decision or linger in goodbyes or nostalgia. "My bag's over there. I'll go get it." 

There was a sudden flash of lights and suddenly Carmilla was over the counter and grabbing her, dragging her down behind it before Laura could realize what was going on.

"What are you--"

"Shh," Carmilla growled, shifting into a crouch and sliding over slightly so she could see around the counter and pulling her bandana back up into place. Laura could see her muscles tensing behind her... was that leather?!

"What's--" Laura was cut off again by Carmilla shushing her. There was something or someone outside, that much she could figure out from the flash of lights. She didn't have to wonder what or whom for long when the lights flashed again, this time accompanied by a siren. 

"Patrollers," Carmilla muttered under her breath, confirming Laura's fears.

Why were they here? Aside from the obvious  _why,_ Laura amended, how did they know Carmilla was here?

"I didn't alert them," Laura whispered in alarm, her eyes going wide. Oh god, what if Carmilla thought she did? She'd definitely be dead. She was probably dead right now. But who would have alerted them? Who would've known? Cochrane was Laura's first guess, but she was completely isolated in the kitchen and they would have heard her for sure if she'd woken up.

Her dad couldn't have known anything. Danny didn't know anything. LaFontaine got close to knowing something, but there was no chance they'd been able to figure anything out. 

"What do we do?" Laura asked hesitantly after Carmilla didn't respond. "I swear, I didn't call for them, I don't know who--" 

"We're leaving. Now," Carmilla growled, sliding back over to Laura. Her jaw clenched when there was another flash of lights and a short burst of sirens.

"I--"

"You're talking to a known criminal right now. If they catch us, you'll be arrested as well unless you turn me in. And I'm not about to let you turn me in, creampuff," Carmilla hissed, peeking out over the countertop. 

Well, at least Carmilla didn't seem like she wanted to kill her. "How do you know I won't be arrested anyway?" she shot back. 

"That's just a risk you're going to have to take with me, buttercup." Carmilla's eyes flitted back down to Laura. "So?"

Laura wondered if Carmilla even remembered her name or if she should have re-introduced herself at the chance she had a minute ago. "I already said yes." 

"Then get moving." 

"Which way?" Laura asked, her chest tightening as she head shouting from outside the diner. She'd known that getting caught by patrollers was a very real possibility, but she hadn't expected the possibility to come so  _soon_.

"Go out the back door and wait behind the dumpster," Carmilla ordered, her hand drifting over her hip. "I'll be right behind you." Her hand came to rest on what Laura guessed to be a gun and Laura had to bite her tongue to keep from saying anything. She really hoped it wouldn't come to Carmilla having to shoot anyone; would she be considered an accomplice if she did? Before she could get too caught up in the question, Carmilla gave her a swift shove that send Laura scrambling to the back room. She crawled over to where her bag was and shrugged it on before slowly opening the back door, trying to see if there were any patrollers.

It seemed like the coast was clear, which was good. What was not good was that Laura saw no sign of Carmilla's ship.

 _She did say it was in the back, right?_ Laura worried her lip nervously, slipping outside and ducking behind the dumpster. It was a tight squeeze with Laura being caught between the wall of the diner and the metal of the dumpster; there was barely an inch of room left with her crammed in. She wished she'd asked Carmilla why she had to wait out here, or for how long, but she had a hunch that she probably wouldn't have gotten an answer.

The voices from the front of the diner could be heard more clearly outside and Laura resisted the urge to flinch at the sound of the short bursts of sirens and the crunch of footsteps. She was seconds away from glancing at her watch because  _how long did Carmilla even want her to wait out here_ when a sound Laura had only heard in movies cut through the air.

A gunshot, she was pretty sure. But nothing like the lasers the patrollers carried. It sounded like an Earth gun. An antique. 

It was silent for a moment, save for Laura's small gasp of surprise, before the voices came back shouting at full force and the sirens intensified. Laura had barely caught her breath when she felt herself being tugged out from behind the dumpster roughly, one of her elbows scraping up against the wall of the diner. She instinctively opened her mouth to scream but all the came out was a small whimper due to the fact there was a gloved hand covering her mouth. 

 "We have about ten seconds before they come back here so you better start running, sweetheart," came Carmilla's voice, low and raspy against her ear. The hand withdrew from her mouth quickly and Laura almost stumbled as she ran to keep up with Carmilla. 

"Where's your ship?" Laura panted, struggling to keep up the pace. She wanted to glance over her shoulder but knew the action would cost her precious seconds of speed. Which she couldn't afford to lose with how short her legs were. 

"Close," Carmilla said, and Laura squinted into the distance. Yes, it was dark, but she was fairly certain that she should be able to see a ship by now. Unless it was one of those compact tiny ones, which she doubted. It looked hard enough to fit one person into one of those, let alone inviting someone along.

And Carmilla just didn't seem the type for them. 

The space in front of them abruptly shimmered and Laura's view was suddenly taken up by a massive spacecraft that  _was_ more the style of what she thought Carmilla's type would be. 

 "That's illegal," Laura gasped, craning her neck back to take it in. Apart from how rare it was to be able to make such a consistent invisibility shield, they'd been outlawed practically since their invention. 

"No shit, sweetheart," Carmilla said sarcastically, slowing down and stopping at what looked like a hatch in the side. Laura flushed in embarrassment; of course it was illegal. Who did she think she was travelling with?

"You don't really have a last chance to say no, so I'd suggest you get in," Carmilla called, holding the hatch open and gesturing behind Laura to where a group of patrollers running towards them. Laura nodded and darted past Carmilla into the hatch.

There was a loud clang as Carmilla stepped in next to her and closed the door.  _Next to her_ was a generous way to put it; it was even worse than the dumpster had been with how little room there was for the both of them.

It was made more awkward by the fact that it was almost completely dark; all Laura could see were the hairs on Carmilla's eyebrows, and that was only due to how uncomfortably close they were to her face.

Her pulse quickened when she felt Carmilla's arm brush against her and reach over her shoulder, effectively trapping her against the wall of wherever they were in the spaceship. She was probably seconds away from a heart attack ( _definitely_ not having to do solely with the fact that Carmilla's body was now flush against hers and she only seemed to be leaning closer) when there was a small click from behind her head and the area became illuminated. 

They were standing in some sort of hallway which explained the crampedness of their surroundings. Carmilla pulled her hand back from what was most likely a light switch and stepped back from Laura, setting off at a brisk pace.

She was on board.

She was on board an honest-to-god spaceship. A spaceship that wasn't for a school tour or an elevator to the moon. She'd made it on alive, Carmilla Karnstein hadn't killed her and she hadn't gotten arrested by patrollers (which she realized were still possibilities that should be accompanied by a 'yet', but, come on). She was finally leaving Styria. She was finally leaving home.

Laura closed her eyes and willed her pulse return to normal before following Carmilla down the hallway, the sounds of the patrollers outside melting away.

She was going to make sure she didn't regret this.


	4. Turbulence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smooth takeoff, questionable hospitality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late! The next chapter should be longer. And on time.

"J.P., take us up!" Carmilla's voice echoed throughout the spaceship and Laura's eyes widened in question. Was there someone else on board? She hadn't really considered the possibility of company other than Carmilla. 

"Who's J.P...?" Laura's voice trailed off as the space of the compact hallway opened wider, the ceiling sharply curving upward and revealing a larger area that looked to be like the control room. At least, that's what Laura thought it was. There were screens and all sorts of gadgets lining the walls along with several computers and tables scattered across the room, and it looked pretty similar to the control centers she'd seen pictures of in books and on TV. Granted, they were usually more organized than this, Laura noticed as she almost tripped over a line of exposed wires.

"Hmm?" Carmilla's head popped up from behind a computer where she appeared to be crouching down and typing on a keyboard. An honest-to-cosmos keyboard. With three dimensional keys. Something Laura had also only seen pictures of. She was quickly realizing that there was a lot of... really,  _really_ old stuff in this room as she passed by more computers. The juxtaposition between the electronics that looked like they should belong in museums and the modern ones that Laura was pretty sure were so new they weren't available to the public was a little bit frightening, considering Laura had no idea how they were able to function together. "Oh, he's the interface." 

_Pleased to make your acquaintance, Laura._

Laura stopped in her tracks, blinking in confusion. "What's--" 

"He communicates through the electrical signals in your brain." 

"Oh." Okay, so there was a robot voice that could get inside her head. Great. A bit unnerving, but at least she wasn't losing her mind.

Laura made her way around the room gingerly, taking care not to step on any exposed wires or bump into any of the computers. There were a millions questions bubbling up inside her that she wanted to ask Carmilla, like where everything in the room came from or what exactly they all did.

She turned back to look at Carmilla, who had settled down at the main computer and was toying with the fabric of her bandana.

"Why are you still wearing that? It's not like I don't know your identity," Laura frowned, squinting at her from across the room. At least the veil-hood thing was off, so pepper spray was now an option Laura had now that her eyes were visible. That was comforting, at least. 

Hopefully she wouldn't have to use pepper spray. 

"Maybe I just like bandanas. Give it a rest, cupcake," Carmilla said distractedly, looking intently at the screen in concentration.

Laura wouldn't admit that one of the reasons it was bothering her was because she wanted to see Carmilla's face again. One minute of exposure to it in the diner wasn't going to be enough. Yeah, okay, it was shallow, she knew, but even if Carmilla was going to be an asshole, she was an attractive asshole. And if Laura was going to have to put up with her assholeish-ness, she'd like to do it with a nice view. So what? Sue her. 

"When are we leaving?" Laura asked, making her way closer to where Carmilla was siting. The ship did look pretty solid from the outside, but how long could they possibly hold out against the patrollers? The lack of commotion outside was a little bit weird, but maybe her ship was soundproof or something. Laura didn't know. 

"We've left," Carmilla replied, spinning in her chair to face Laura. "Welcome aboard the  _Black Panther_." 

"What?" Laura almost choked on her own spit. Or breath. On  _something_ , because that couldn't be possible. 

"Quietest and smoothest takeoff in the universe," Carmilla said smugly, leaning back and crossing her arms. Well, Laura guessed, from what she knew about panthers, the name of the ship made sense. If she could wrap her mind around the possibility that it was in the realm of attainable for a spaceship to take off completely silently. "J.P., open the window visor." 

There was a small rattling noise from one of the less screen-filled walls and Laura made a face. "If your ship's so quiet, what's with that?"

"It's on purpose, cupcake. I like the sound," Carmilla rolled her eyes, turning back to her computer and leaving Laura to watch the visor open.

The wall had moved open to reveal a large window and the first thing Laura noticed was how far away they already were from Styria. How far away she was from home. She wouldn't have believed it if she wasn't seeing it with her own eyes or experiencing it first hand. A takeoff without any sound or turbulence of any kind, with Styria already in the distance and only getting further? She was having trouble even making out the moon at this point, it was so small.

"How'd you lose the patrollers?" Laura asked, her breath fogging up the glass. She jerked back in shock at how close she was, not remembering walking right up to the window.

"I have my methods." 

Laura was too overwhelmed and awestruck with the view to feel overly annoyed at Carmilla's less-than-satisfactory answer. She could see the stars in the distance much more clearly than she had been able to from the elevator window, and the vastness and darkness of space was taking her breath away.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Laura jumped at the sudden voice ghosting in her ear, glaring over her shoulder at Carmilla who had appeared right behind her. Apparently she also shared in her ship's talent of being eerily quiet in movement.

Or maybe Laura was just too mesmerized to notice. 

Laura only nodded, turning her head back to look out. Styria looked like the size of a baseball in the distance and the moon was barely discernible. 

"You have a window in your room," Carmilla said after a few minutes of silence and taking the view in, stepping away from Laura and back to her computer.

Laura looked at her in surprise. Her room? She hadn't thought about what accommodations she would have, but she hadn't expected her own room. She was thinking more along the lines of a sleeping bag or bunk in any random part of the ship Carmilla had to spare. "I get a room?" 

"Like I'd let you sleep in here," Carmilla sighed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Follow me." 

 

* * *

 

All was going well until, as they were walking down the hallway, Laura found out she had absolutely no connection on her phone. She'd only taken it out to see if she'd gotten any messages or if anyone had noticed she'd gone missing when she'd noticed the absence of a connection.

It didn't have to do with how far away they were from Styria, Laura knew that. They were still in her solar system and her network was still covered and wouldn't have just shut off. And she didn't think it was a problem with her phone.

Well,  _shit_. She'd been depending on having a working connection. Laura wasn't very eager in asking Carmilla about it, but...

"I cut off the signals to all of your devices. Can't exactly have you giving our location away," Carmilla explained when Laura brought it up.

Laura wasn't entirely sure how she felt about being included in the 'our' of Carmilla's location. Especially when it was unlikely anyone knew where she was or that she was with Carmilla.

"You know that's not, like, entirely creepy, right?" She should probably be feeling unsafe right now. That would be an appropriate feeling to have considering she was getting more and more of the feeling of being a prisoner. Of a ruthless space pirate convict raging bad-person.

But she was just getting pissed off.

"Totally helping your reputation of being a murderer," Laura added sarcastically.

"Why, do you think I'm not?" A small smile found its way onto Carmilla's face.

Laura didn't really feel like being teased right then. Was she  _proud_ of killing people? Laura held back a shiver of disgust. "Well, there does seem to be an abundance of false information on you." If you could call any of the information available on Carmilla Karnstein abundant. With the exception of her criminal record. There was more than enough information on all of her crimes and violations than Laura would have liked. "And forgive me for not being all super trusting of you when you've just admitted to killing people." 

"You know my record, cutie, don't act all surprised," Carmilla said lightly, turning a corner sharply. Laura slowed down to look at her surroundings; it's not like she had any way to escape if she needed or wanted to, but she didn't want to get lost in the _Panther_. "But for your record I've never murdered any Styrian girls on my ship." 

  _Like that's supposed to make me feel any better,_ Laura grumbled internally. "Any girls from other planets?"  

Laura realized that this would be a perfect opportunity to write down some notes and slowed even more so she could open her backpack to dig out her journal and pencil. She brushed a few strands of hair away from her face before tucking the pencil behind her ear, struggling for a second to zip her backpack back up while holding her journal. She wasn't just here to travel or bicker; she was going to take any information on Carmilla that she could get. 

"Nope." 

Laura waited expectantly for more of an answer before huffing in frustration and hurrying to catch up to Carmilla. " _Have_ you murdered anyone on your ship?" she queried. While she didn't find the subject matter of the questions particularly pleasant, she couldn't deny that she was curious. 

Carmilla made a noise that sounded affirmative and Laura huffed in frustration again.

"Would you care to expand?"

"Yes." 

Laura paused. "Is that a yes to the murdering or a yes to the caring to expand...?" She quickly reached up for her pencil, looking at Carmilla hopefully.

Carmilla stopped walking, appearing to consider her question. Laura's pencil hovered over her paper eagerly. Maybe she was finally going to get an answer. 

 "...Yes," Carmilla said, quirking her eyebrows and smirking before continuing to walk, leaving an affronted Laura in her wake.

Honestly, she wanted to break her pencil. Or maybe stab Carmilla with it. Laura settled for scowling and shoving her pencil back behind her ear, following Carmilla angrily. 

"You know, I've never had such a talkative passenger before," Carmilla said after a moment of silence. 

"Have you had other passengers?" Laura tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice. She could be patient. She could wait for Carmilla to give her information at her own pace. She could do this. It was only the first day, after all, and not even that. How long had it even been, a couple of hours, if that?

"Yes, I--" Carmilla frowned at the sound of pencil scribbling behind her, turning her head to stare at Laura before a look of amused recognition settled on her face. "Oh, you're a  _journalist_. Should've known from all the questions." 

Laura bristled at Carmilla's condescending tone, opening her mouth to respond when Carmilla continued,

"No wonder you were so eager to get out of your galaxy. Can't say I can't see why you took up my offer, cutie. You hoping to write an article about me? Maybe an autobiography: My Time With Carmilla Karnstein-- Breathtaking Adventures Through Space With The Misunderstood Delinquent," Carmilla razzed mockingly. 

" _Are_ you misunderstood?" Laura couldn't resist. 

"Guess you'll have to find out, Lauronica Mars." 

Fuck. Laura was going to have to up her game. She stopped herself from dwelling on the fact that Carmilla Karnstein had apparently watched the serial earth drama Veronica Mars, because what even?, and pushed onward. "But you're lonely, right? That's why you wanted company," Laura tried. "That's why you let me come along." 

"This is your room." Carmilla abruptly stopped in front of an open door and Laura almost barreled into her. She opened her mouth to protest the obvious avoidance of her question which only aided in her jaw dropping at the sight of her quarters. 

It wasn't cramped or claustrophobic like she'd been expecting on the walk over. Laura was once again taken aback at how spacious the rooms seemed to be in the  _Panther_. Especially considering the size of the hallways. Sure, her room was still relatively small, but much, much bigger than she'd envisioned. In fact, it seemed about the same size as her room back on Styria, and the bed was twice as big.

"You have a bathroom through that door and can use the computers on the desk or the wall or whatever. If you have any questions just ask J.P. for help." Carmilla waved her hand around the room briskly, and before Laura could even ask her  _how_ exactly she could ask J.P. for help was gone, leaving Laura alone in the room.

God, this was going to be so much harder than she had hoped. Sure, she'd expected it to be a challenge and wasn't under the delusion that Carmilla Karnstein was going to part with article-worthy information readily, but the way this was going, it was going to be exhausting. 

She didn't even bother glancing at her watch to check what time it was. Did her watch even matter now or make sense to wear now that she wasn't going to be on Styrian time anymore? How exactly did one keep time in space?

Laura peeked out into the hallway before hesitantly closing her door and letting her backpack slide off of her shoulders to the floor. She put down her disappointingly blank journal and pencil down on the small desk next to he bed. Soon, she consoled herself. Those pages wouldn't be blank forever.

Her body was more than ready to just collapse and go to sleep after such a long day, but her mind wasn't quite as tired. Laura's eyes settled on the small, circular window across the room and she wandered over slowly, sitting down on the edge of her bed so she could look out. There was a small pang of sadness in her gut when she realized she couldn't see Styria anymore, but was overshadowed by the irrepressible growing feeling of excitement.

She was leaving. Really leaving. She'd left, and not just on a field trip to a nearby planet.

She was going on an  _adventure_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to update every week but school and work are things that exist, so we'll see how that goes. Thank you for reading/commenting!


	5. Possession Is Nine-Tenths (And Hospitality Is Two Stars)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla's really got to step up her game if she wants Laura to give her a good travel review.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long overdue update!!

Carmilla was beginning to think that she may have a thing for journalists. 

She'd only watched Veronica Mars because she'd been assigned to the planet Mars in her early civilizations class, and why not choose a resource that had a picture of a cute girl on it? How was she supposed to know it had nothing to do with Mars and was just an Earth drama?

And she only watched all of the seasons and movies because Earth dramas were strangely addicting. It wasn't under her free will. Earth mind-control shit or something. 

Not that she had a  _thing_ for Laura Hollis. Purely a coincidence that the girl in the diner she offered a ride to just happened to be a journalist. Like when a couple of months ago, when she was at an antiques market, she'd found some issues of an Earth comic containing the character Lois Lane at the bottom of a box she'd stolen for the battery parts. 

She had a thing for  _finding_ journalists. That she may or may not happen to find attractive.

Carmilla sighed and wiped at her face, not caring about the grease marks left behind from her gloves. She didn't know why, exactly, she'd offered to take Laura travelling, but it wasn't for the purpose of... well, having a  _thing_ with her, or for her, or whatever. Yeah, it didn't hurt that she was cute, but--

It didn't exactly help, either. 

Besides, she had bigger things to worry about instead of Laura's face. 

"J.P., current status regarding patrollers?" The chances of anyone knowing their location was slim with the speed of their getaway, but it was better to be safe. Last time she hadn't checked they'd managed to slap a tracker on the side of her ship and had almost trapped her. It came down to surrendering or blowing off the part of the ship holding the tracker on it. She'd only recently finished repairing and remodeling the kitchen, and wasn't about to risk any more close calls like that. 

_-No patrollers within a reasonable distance and no new alerts regarding the status of our location._

"Any news on the disappearance of our guest?" 

_-No news alerts on the whereabouts of Laura Hollis._

Good. At least no one had noticed the waitress had gone missing. Or at least there wasn't a public release or report that she was. They'd probably want to keep it on the down low that Carmilla Karnstein had evaded their grasp yet again if they could, unless they wanted to add kidnapping to her list of offenses to ruin her image even more. Unless kidnapping was already on there. 

After her charges had amassed into the triple-digits range, it'd become a hassle to keep track of them. 

"Any messages for her?" 

_-Six from a contact under the name 'Danny' and two from a 'Lafontaine.' They appear to be her friends._

"Let me know if she gets any more," Carmilla said, sliding out form under the engine part she was working on. She wiped her grease-streaked face with her bandana, which only served to spread the oil around more and make her face dirtier. Damn it, she was going to have to pay more attention to her hygiene and appearance with someone else on board. She was, technically, supposed to wipe her hands on her bandana and not her face. But she'd gotten used to her maybe questionable habits in her time alone. It wasn't like J.P. was going to judge her for her occasional laziness.

With a sigh she stood up and pulled her bandana off, chucking it into her toolbox by her feet along with the screwdriver she was holding. Carmilla  _had_ been paying more attention to her appearance; it wasn't every day she went through the special effort of putting on her leather pants. She'd chosen them specifically for this occasion. Which Laura seemed to be appreciating. Carmilla wasn't oblivious to the looks Laura had been not-so-subtly sneaking. 

The whole bandana thing, though, seemed to piss the cupcake off. It was amusing to Carmilla; sure, fine, she would admit that maybe they hadn't been very high on the popularity charts for the last sixty years or so, buts aside from their intended use of cleaning dirty hands, they also served the purpose of hiding the occasional guest appearance of her fangs. 

Right, fangs. The whole 'being a vampire' thing. Laura probably wouldn't react very well to that. Unless she counted it as part of the thrill of an adventure. Or maybe she was into stuff like that, with her reading Dracula and all that. But Carmilla doubted she'd be very enthusiastic to finding out her hostess drank blood.

 _If_  she found out. But from the combination of her journalistic curiosity to fish for information she could incorporate into some sort of breakout story on Carmilla and her borderline aggressive dislike for bandanas, Carmilla suspected she might. 

It wasn't that Carmilla was particularly concerned with keeping her vampiric nature a secret from Laura. From the public, maybe. She didn't need scientists after her biology chasing her on top of all the patrollers and governments she'd pissed off. 

So maybe Laura didn't need to know right now. They'd only been around each other for a couple hours total, and if Laura was going to stay on for an extended amount of time (or at least longer than Carmilla guessed it would take her to figure out the whole vampire thing), Carmilla was going to have to get more information on her first. After she cleaned her face. 

* * *

 Laura woke up with a start, jerking her body up into a sitting position with a wince. She must've fallen asleep when she was reading, and judging from the complaints the nerves in her back and neck were giving her, it hadn't been in a very comfortable position.

She'd been too excited the night before to just go to sleep, so she'd decided to read some more of Dracula. If a person could actually manage to read anything when they were glancing out the window every four seconds.

Wait. The window. That meant leaving with Carmilla had most definitely not been a dream. 

She almost tripped over herself getting up from the bed in her eagerness, having to catch herself on the bed frame. Her room was still dark-- she wondered if she was going to have to get used to it, with the windows being tinted and all. Or they might just be facing away from the sun. Or, more likely, there was a light switch somewhere in the room that had shut off sometime when she was sleeping, because she did not remember it being this dark. 

Her luck wasn't much better when her feet were firmly on the ground. Laura refrained from swearing as she knocked into what felt like a dresser. Okay, so this was not going to work. 

Just when she was resigning herself to being confined to her be until Carmilla checked up on her -- would she check up on her? -- to avoid injury, she remembered what Carmilla had told her: "If you have any questions, just ask J.P. for help."

She still wasn't sure what the protocol was when asking for help from a computer. That talked. In her brain. 

"J...P.?" Laura ventured. She'd risk maybe making an idiot out of herself over a stubbed toe. Plus, it wasn't like there was anyone around to hear her talking to empty air, right?

_-Here and happy to be of service, Laura Hollis._

The voice startled her; even though it couldn't have been more than a few hours since she'd heard it, the sensation of a voice that wasn't hears inside of her head was still foreign. But relieving. Just in this instance. It was still creepy. Very, very creepy. 

"Can you, um, turn on the lights, please? Or point me in the direction of a light switch--" 

The room illuminated with light before Laura could finish her sentence, which, you know, while helpful, wasn't really any less creepy, and she was taking it in when-- no. Something was wrong.

_-Anything else I can get for you?_

"Yeah, maybe--" _Maybe I shouldn't finish that sentence,_ Laura stopped herself, clenching her fists in anger. Her clothes and other possessions were in a messy pile next to her backpack which had more than clearly been searched through. She was about to ask if J.P. could maybe find Carmilla some simple etiquette, or teach her about what boundaries were, but if he could turn on lights, who's to say he couldn't electrocute her or something?

- _If you're wanting to see Carmilla, she's in the kitchen. I printed out a map of the Black Panther for your convenience._

"You... can't read my mind, right?" she asked nervously. She knew, technically, that her thoughts were just electrical impulses in her brain. Which was how J.P. communicated, according to Carmilla. She was really not going to get used to the voice-inside-her-head thing any time soon. 

_-Nope!_

While J.P.'s tone of voice was a little too chipper, considering he was a robot, for Laura's liking, she was at least reassured that he wasn't _completely_ creepy. "Good," Laura grumbled under her breath, turning her attention back to her bag and eyeing the mess. Had Carmilla been in here while she was sleeping? And disregarding the total invasion of privacy, couldn't she at least have the decency to put Laura's stuff back where she found it instead of leaving it strewn out on the floor?

Laura knelt down next to her backpack and quickly began searching her things, checking to make sure nothing was missing. Clothes, check. Books, check. Pepper spray, check. Spatula, check. Phone, no. 

Her head whipped in the direction of her bed, certain that she'd had it in her pocket or at least next to her when she was reading. 

 _Good going, Laura, this is what you get for trusting a thief,_ she groaned internally. Maybe she should have been expecting this, with Carmilla's reputation and all. 

Still.

Laura took a deep breath, trying to calm her frustration. She was stuck with Carmilla for stars know how long, and if she was getting this annoyed on the first day, the first  _night_ , well... 

Time to girl the hell up and give Carmilla a piece of her mind. She wasn't going to let behavior like this fly. Even if it was Carmilla's ship and she had no obligation to listen to Laura. 

Her eyes moved from the bed to take in the rest of the room, looking for the map J.P. said he'd printed. It was resting underneath a screen bolted against the wall next to the door. Laura took notice of the lock on the door and made a mental note to put it to use in the future. Not that Carmilla couldn't probably have J.P. disable it or something or pick it herself. But she'd take any precautions she could, even if they did end up being more passive-aggressive than anything. 

Laura winced as her stomach growled. How long had it been since she'd last been on Styria? Since she'd eaten? She wished she'd taken note of the time before she fell asleep to have some sort of reference. 

"Guess I'm going to the kitchen, then," Laura sighed under her breath after grabbing the map from under the computer. 

* * *

 First article on Carmilla Karnstein: Her ship was a floating safety hazard. Laura almost tripped no less than twelve times over cables littering the ground of the hallways, and there were several exposed and sparking wires that were  _more_ than alarming. Maybe she should just write up a travel review. Hospitality and safety, two stars. Accommodations, four stars. Privacy, one star. Coming up next, quality of cuisine. If she didn't get killed first.

Laura barely held back a shriek as a loose metal cable detached from the ceiling and slammed into the wall next to her, making her jump back. That was it, she's taking a star back for safety. She wasn't even sure it deserved one star at this point. 

On the map J.P. had provided her, the kitchen wasn't a very far walk from her room, but it still took her over fifteen minutes to find it. By the time she did, her stomach was growling every two seconds and she was ready to dig into whatever food she could find. 

She paused in the open doorway for a moment, her father's voice nagging her about manners in her head. The kitchen appeared empty and there was no sign of Carmilla; she must've left in the time it had taken Laura to walk over. Her urge to ask for permission grappled with her hunger. 

...But it wasn't like Carmilla had asked permission before going through her stuff, had she? Screw it, she was hungry. 

There were several cabinets filled with nothing but loose bolts and spare parts and Laura bit her lip in frustration when one of the handles on a drawer fell off in her hand. It looked like a kitchen. It said kitchen on the map. There were shelves, counters, a sink, that thing in the corner with padlocks all over it that looked like it could be a refrigerator, but where was the food? 

She was shoulder-deep in one of the cabinets when her hand finally grabbed onto something that didn't feel like metal. A box. A familiar shape, thank goodness, and it felt like it was made out of cardboard. 

Victory was hers when Laura found herself with a box of Chokoa Crunch in her hands once she had managed to extract it from the dark pits of the cabinet. It wasn't open, which was a relief, considering the growing concerns Laura had about the cleanliness of the kitchen. Now, if only she could find some milk...

Laura gave up after a few minutes of more searching and staring curiously at the padlocked refrigerator. While the Crunch wasn't the best on its own, Laura's stomach wasn't going to complain, so she started munching on the cereal while getting closer to inspect the padlocked fridge.

Why were there even locks on it? Maybe Carmilla had put all of her food in it so it would be safe if Laura decided to raid her kitchen. It certainly seemed that way, what with all the empty shelves and cupboards, which, you know, rude. And it looked like someone had just thrown on the locks. Laura almost rolled her eyes at Carmilla's paranoia before realizing that she  _had_ been exactly trying to do just that, raid her kitchen. 

She'd have to wait until she had a more substantial meal to rate the food, Laura decided. She wasn't going to give Carmilla the easy four stars  (potentially five, if there had been milk) just for having Chokoa Crunch. 

And where was Carmilla, anyway? 

"Hey, J.P.?" God, this whole talking-to-a-robot thing was still awkward. Was there a certain way Laura should ask for assistance? Like, AI etiquette or something? She hoped she wasn't being impolite doing it the way she was. Even if he was a semi-creepy robot, she didn't want to hurt his feelings. 

Dammit, since when did she care about robot feelings? 

Laura winced. It was probably best she stayed focused on her question. "Where's Carmilla?" 

_-I'm afraid her location at the moment is classified._

His voice sounded almost apologetic, which wasn't helping her guilty be-nice-to-robots feelings. And, whoa, classified? "What's that supposed to mean?" Laura muttered under her breath. J.P. didn't respond, as if he knew Laura wasn't really asking. 

Or maybe he couldn't tell her, because that was  _also_ classified. What was even going on? It was too early for this kind of stuff. If it was even early. Laura didn't know how long she'd slept. 

Laura went over to the counter where she had dropped her map and looked at it curiously. It did seem to be pretty thorough, if some of the names of the rooms weren't comprehension-friendly. Frankly, they looked like computer passwords what with their combinations of random letters and numbers. Was Carmilla in one of those rooms? Or could there be secret rooms on the  _Panther_? 

Crap, that would be cool. And it was totally article material. Forget about a travel review-- who cared about that when she could get a glimpse into the inner workings of _Carmilla Karnstein's_ spaceship? 

She really had to start writing down her ideas. This was beginning to feel like a dream again, despite the privacy breaches and safety hazards and scarcity of food. Journalists would kill to be in her position. Maybe not the best thought to have, Laura winced, remembering that she was currently alone in space with someone who  _had_ killed other people. 

Okay, so maybe she should stop focusing on the possibility of retiring by thirty-five and more about surviving living with Carmilla Karnstein for who knows how long? 

* * *

 Laura was so caught up in her thoughts (yeah, fine, so what if she started thinking about her retirement plans again? They were important!) on her way back to her room that she almost forgot about the whole Carmilla going through her stuff thing. Until, when opening the door to her room, she was greeted with the sight of... Carmilla going through her stuff. Heck no. 

"Hey, um, excuse me, but what are you doing with my backpack?" Laura cleared her throat loudly. Carmilla was crouching next to it with her back turned to Laura, in the middle of zipping open a pocket. Which had no right to look as attractive as it did, with her leather pants stretching around her butt. 

Laura swallowed, closing her eyes briefly. Hey, remember the anger and annoyance she was feeling? Yeah, those would better feelings to be have right now than... whatever  _that_ was that Carmilla was causing. 

Carmilla started slightly, as if she hadn't been expecting Laura to catch her, before smoothly turning around to face Laura. She opened her mouth to reply before a look of confusion passed over her face at the box Laura was holding. "What are you doing with my Chokoa Crunch?" 

It was Laura's turn to be caught off guard and she frowned. If anyone should be feeling indignant right now, it was definitely her, not Carmilla. "I was hungry." 

"So you decided to comb through my kitchen?" Carmilla raised an eyebrow at her and crossed her arms. 

Her dad's voice was, very unhelpfully, coming back to tell Laura 'I told you so.'  _Maybe I should've asked permission_ , Laura thought sheepishly. Wait, no no no, she wasn't going to be tricked out of this conversation. Carmilla had no right to accuse Laura of looking through her kitchen when she was going through her backpack right in front of her!

"Why are you going through my backpack?" Laura shot back, her eyes narrowing. "Wasn't once enough for you?" 

"Cool it, cupcake. I'm just making sure you didn't bring anything dangerous on board." Carmilla reached into Laura's backpack and held up Laura's spatula with an amused smirk. "Such as this." 

"Which is deadly, clearly," Laura growled impatiently. "You could've asked first, you know, seeing how _this isn't your stuff!_ " 

"It's on my ship, cutie, and possession is nine-tenths." Carmilla stood up languidly, tossing the spatula down onto the pile of clothes. "There, I'm done. Ya happy, buttercup?" 

"Where's my phone?" Laura demanded, planting herself in the doorway so it was blocked. Which may or may not have been the best idea, considering she was only 5'2" and Carmilla probably had experience fighting people four times Laura's size. If you could call them people, that is. Shit, she hoped she wouldn't have to use her Krav Maga. But thankfully and all the more frustratingly, Carmilla just looked bored. 

"That, I'm going to have to keep for a while. Can't have the patrollers trying to get access to it if they try and track you down now, can we?" 

"'If?'" Laura repeated, a hint of worry in her voice. While she didn't want to add to Carmilla's burden of patrollers chasing her, and didn't exactly desire to be chased after herself, people would notice she was missing, right? She hadn't thought about it that much due to not wanting to dwell on the pain she was probably causing her father and friends, and had just assumed she'd be reported missing. 

Oh god, what if they thought she was dead? There was an awful lot of firing at the diner, it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to believe. Or maybe she could've gotten incinerated in the blastoffs of the patroller's ships. Their machinery was a lot noisier and fiery than Carmilla's, from what she could tell. 

Laura was letting Carmilla brush past her when the outlaw said, "Oh, and you've gotten a few messages from your ginger friends. I'll let you read them in a bit," as she was leaving.

In a bit!? And Carmilla was going to have to be more specific. The majority of Laura's friends had red hair. After she calmed down from her initial urge to yell in frustration she huffed over to her backpack to pick of her clothes. She might as well start putting them in her dresser. 

She was a few minutes into organizing her shirts when she realized that Carmilla hadn't been wearing a bandana. Which was nice, even if she did seem to have a weird habit of turning her face away from Laura or subtly blocking her mouth with her hand when she talked. Laura would have thought she was embarrassed of her teeth if she hadn't seen her smile before. 

Yeah, what was up with that? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes, this was way overdue! Life has been hectic and I'm working on another AU, which I'm sure other writers with no self-control can relate to. Not sure when it will be posted. Thanks for reading!


	6. Bear Camp?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura gets her messages from her friends who seem to think she's somewhere else. And not just not on board a ship with Carmilla Karnstein. Also, she's really gay.

How Laura had managed to find the Chokoa Crunch was a complete mystery to Carmilla. She had been looking for that box for  _months_ , and had resigned herself to the fact that she would probably never see it again, yet this girl comes in and finds it on her first day aboard. 

And eats all of it.  _All_ of it. Who eats an entire box of Chokoa Crunch in one go? Wasn't there  _anything_ else that she could've--

Wait, _was_ there anything else? Yeah, there was, wasn't there... Carmilla racked her brain, trying to remember the state of her newly assembled kitchen. She'd been so caught up with chaining up her fridge last minute to protect her super-secret vampire blood stash that providing food more fit for a human guest hadn't really crossed her mind. _  
_

Dammit she'd been on her own too long. Great job, inviting a human on board and not remembering that humans need to eat. Despite how aggravating and nosy Laura was turning out to be, she was a much needed distraction for Carmilla and it certainly wouldn't be good to starve her. Living on the run with only a robot to talk to was really screwing with Carmilla's perception of reality. 

Carmilla huffed, mentally adding 'get food' to her to-do list after she came up with a viable explanation for Laura's absence from Styria. By some wonder of luck, there had so far been no mention of Laura's name in any news reports or news broadcasts, so she had a window of time to make her own cover-up story before Laura's disappearance was noticed. 

Well, noticed to the point of becoming a problem. Judging from the messages Laura was receiving from the contacts on her phone, it had been noticed. But a couple of hours couldn't hurt, and no one seemed to be calling the authorities yet. 

Besides, making cover-up stories was interesting. An exercise in creativity, a more harmless form of mischief. 

Which put Carmilla working through the information gathered from Laura's phone that may be relevant to her search. She couldn't use the easy excuse of Laura finding an opportunity elsewhere and going off-planet, from what Laura had said about her dad, and the reason she was on the  _Black Panther_ in the first place. Styria was all she had to work with.

Internship opportunities would be too complex for Carmilla to fabricate, especially if Laura planned on returning to Styria or pursuing higher education. Which she probably did. Too many phone calls and building up a company with a reputation and connections-- colleges double-checking the validity in the future, etc. Boring stuff.

She skimmed over the loading profile of Laura's father, filling in with all related information on him easily accessible from Styrian databases. Carmilla was about to move on to a more detailed analysis of Laura's education-- maybe she'd find another interest there, like a camp or something she'd been to before. Wouldn't be easy, especially if too many people were involve, but not impossible-- when her eyes caught on Mr. Hollis' investments. 

Bingo. 

* * *

After approximately ten minutes of trying to figure out how to turn on the shower, one minute of standing under freezing water, twenty seconds of almost being boiled alive, fifteen minutes of actually showering, and then another fifteen minutes of drying off and getting dressed, Laura had significantly calmed down from her earlier confrontation with Carmilla (and the amazing water pressure didn't hurt). 

She'd spent the time after that sitting on her bed, staring out her window and deliberating whether or not an hour was a reasonable amount of time to ask Carmilla about her messages. Or enough of a cooldown period to where she wouldn't get the urge to strangle Carmilla on sight or get irritated about the fact that she had to ask to see her own messages. That were for her. On her phone. That was hers. 

Laura managed to wait another twenty minutes with ' _possession is nine-tenths_ ' echoing around in her head before her patience ran out and her curiosity won over, hopping off of her bed and grabbing the map she had set down next to the empty box of cereal before exiting her room. 

She wondered if it was just her imagination or if the walkway to the control room was just better kept; no sparking cables falling from the ceiling tried to maul her on her way over, so that was a plus. Maybe it had something to do with the passage being more familiar and her facing it after a shower and with food in her stomach. 

When she reached the control room without having to jump to the side to avoid getting hit by sparks, she decided that no, it was actually safer than the passage to the kitchen. Another mystery for her to solve. 

She hesitated in the doorway, not sure how she would be received. Laura could see Carmilla sitting at a table near the center of the room in front of a trio of screens, fiddling with some sort of gadget with a focused intensity. She glanced around slowly, taking more in than she had the night before.

While still somewhat concerning, the incorporation of old (ancient might be a better description, actually) and new technology was beautiful. 

It wasn't like she'd been expecting things to be as  _exciting_ as their takeoff, or that Carmilla's life was solely epic chases or looting depots nonstop around the clock (okay maybe she had, but whose expectations wouldn't be high concerning the most well-known criminal in the galaxies?), but as she looked around, Laura couldn't help but feel like things were strangely... laid back on the  _Black Panther_. 

Not boring, no-- it was far too early to make that judgement and Laura hardly thought  _boring_ and  _Carmilla Karnstein_ belonged in the same sentence. She could see how it could get lonely, in a spaceship this big travelling through an infinite universe with only a robotic voice for company. 

Laura's eyes traced over Carmilla's hunched form, wondering how many people had gotten to see her like this, to watch her work quietly without interruption. 

Which Laura was unfortunately going to disturb by, well, interrupting, if she wanted to get her phone back. Which she did very much, so she didn't feel  _too_ guilty about it. 

"...So how long is a bit?" Laura asked, her feet still glued in the doorway. 

"Hm?" Carmilla's head jerked up, whipping around to face Laura in slight surprise. Her brow furrowed for a few seconds before her confusion cleared, most likely remembering their last conversation. "Oh, your messages? Over there." She gestured to her left with a pair of pliers before returning to her work.

"Thanks," Laura said unsurely, stepping into the room to see her phone hooked up to a couple of wires on a table just a few feet from Carmilla. She was on the brink of opening her mouth to double check that Carmilla's five words of vague affirmation to a question Laura hadn't even fully asked yet meant that it was okay for her to check her phone, but after seeing the concentration in Carmilla's posture she decided not to.

And she didn't really want to get into another argument when her worry about what exactly was  _on_ those messages was steadily mounting.

Also, had that bandana been on Carmilla's face when she walked into the room? Laura could've sworn she wasn't wearing one a moment ago.

Weird. 

There was a stool next to the computer she could now see the wires attached to her phone were hooked up to (dear cosmos, it looked like it was hooked up to life support or something), which she took the liberty of sitting down on before turning her phone on. 

**60 New Messages from LaFontaine and Danny Lawrence**

**1 New Voicemail from Dad**

The notifications popped up immediately, making Laura sigh. Great. She could only cross her fingers that they weren’t too worried about her or calling the patrollers yet. Suppressing the irritation that flared up at the removal of her password, she tapped through to her messages and began to scroll through LaFontaine’s.

**LaFontaine (6:03 AM):** _L? have you seen the news_

**(6:05 AM):** _that was your shift right holy shit! did u see her?_

**(6:10 AM):** _i can’t believe karnstein was actually on styria_

**(7:43 AM):** _it would be nice to get a response to know you’re safe and not kidnapped by karnstein lol_

**(7:44 AM):** _seeing as u never signed out of ur shift_

**(8:29 AM):** _seriously i’m starting to wonder if you’re being questioned by patrollers or something_

**(8:32 AM):** _also i know u like danny but for the love of biology please at least message her back so she’ll get off my ass_

**(9:00 AM):** _… why is my phone telling me ur at ‘bear safety camp’? i’m gonna have to call bs on that L_

**(9:01 AM):** _styria doesn’t have bears_

 

...Bear Safety Camp?

Laura squinted at her phone before moving on to Danny’s messages. All fifty-one of them.

Laura held back a sigh of annoyance as she read the first few; the predictable ‘Where are you’, ‘are you okay’ and so on. She lost patience after the first twenty variations of those questions and skipped down to the most recent messages before her eyes glazed over.

**Danny Lawrence (8:52 AM):** _Laura I’m seriously considering calling the patrollers right now._

**(9:02 AM):** _Could you not have told me or anyone else that you’re going to Bear safety camp? In a form more reassuring than location updates?_

**(9:05 AM):** _I’ve tried calling the camp contact number but all I’m getting is a busy signal. Maybe you don’t have reception where you are but that wouldn’t make sense because of your location update. Please respond so I know you’re safe._

Holy Jupiter, she was going to have to have a serious talk about boundaries with Danny when she… When was she getting back again? It would be flattering if it didn’t feel so controlling, but fifty-one messages was way crossing the line. She knew Danny was protective, sure, but fifty-one messages from her and only one voicemail from her dad? She hadn’t even been missing a full day! And they weren’t even together! Or dating!

****And what the _hell_ was 'Bear Safety Camp?!'

There shouldn’t be any location updates on her phone. Didn’t Carmilla say that she cut off the signals to Laura’s phone for this very reason? So she wouldn’t give their location away?

Laura frowned, pressing down on the blinking notification for her dad’s voicemail and holding her phone to her ear, expecting the worst. It was strange that she’d only received one of them -- yeah, Laura didn’t exactly make a habit of going missing, but on the one or two occasions she missed an elevator home or stayed out too late with friends without notifying him, she’d gotten at least ten messages.

Worry was starting to settle in her stomach at the thought that something might be wrong with him. An accident would probably explain only one voicemail message. Maybe it wasn’t even him, maybe it was the hospital calling, maybe he _had_ actually had an aneurysm when he found out Laura was missing--

She relaxed at the sound of her dad’s voice, before almost immediately tensing up again at his words. He wasn’t calling her about her being gone. Or missing. Or kidnapped.  None of the things that would be normal in this very abnormal situation.

No. No, her dad, protective father extraordinaire, Mr. You’re Going To Be Grounded If You Stay Out Past Your Curfew, was calling her about _Bear Camp._ And how pleased he was that she was going to learn everything there was to learn about bear safety.

Okay, then. Something was clearly going on and Laura was not in the loop. Laura was not very pleased that she was not in the loop.

Laura’s eyes flickered to Carmilla, narrowing in suspicion. She was still fiddling with small bits of wires and metal, back in her bubble of concentration and generally looking not guilty. But she’d probably had years of practicing that look as a seasoned criminal. She _had_ had Laura’s phone earlier. With her leather pants and padlocked fridge, she was obviously not to be trusted. 

(And maybe the only probable suspect, but, you know). 

“Carmilla? Is there a reason that my friends and dad think that I’m at a thing called _‘Bear Safety Camp_?’”

“Oh. Yeah, I had to make a cover for you. Less of a chance patrollers will target you if you’re not missing.” Carmilla turned from her gadget to one of the screens, starting to type something out.

Laura did a double take. While she wasn’t surprised that this had to do with Carmilla, she was slightly shocked at how easily Carmilla admitted to it. Wasn’t she supposed to be known for her lying or something? Or at least good at it?

Maybe she just killed people instead of lying to them. Or blasted off on her ship instead of answering. 

“You know there aren’t any actual bears in Styria, right?” she shot back once she had gotten over her initial reaction.

There was a short pause in Carmilla’s typing. “Your dad has one hell of an unexplainable investment in the bear spray industry, then.”

Well, okay, fine, Carmilla had her there. Her dad did have a certain… obsession with self-defense tools, and she had heard him mention bear spray once or twice.

And it would explain the very noticeable amount of not-freaking-out coming from his end.

“So everyone thinks I’m at Bear Camp.”

“Yep.”

“You’re the only person who knows where I am right now?”

“You have a problem with that, sweetheart?” When Laura didn’t answer after a few moments, Carmilla finally looked up from her computer screen with a raised eyebrow. “What, were you expecting to be live broadcasting your adventures?”

“No, I--” Laura paused, gathering her thoughts. She had known that her location wouldn’t exactly be public or shareable to others, but she hadn’t assumed that her friends wouldn’t even know she was gone. Maybe she hadn’t thought this out entirely. Alone, in vast, mostly empty galaxies, with one of the most ruthless criminals space has ever seen. With no one having the faintest idea where she was.

No, she distinctly remembers having had thought this through. She’d written it down. On her cons list.

Which had, you know, gone completely out the window somewhere in between Danny saying it would be ‘ballsy’ and seeing Carmilla without her bandana on. Or was it maybe seeing Carmilla bent down over her backpack?

Okay, jeez, she really needed to get a grip on her hormones. **  
**

“What if my friends or dad called Bear Camp?” Time to get back on topic, Hollis. Danny had already said she’d tried and gotten a busy signal, so how good was this cover, anyway?

“Let me deal with that.”

Laura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “How?”

Carmilla sighed, turning back to her screen. “I’m intercepting any messages with your name in them. I’ll get J.P. to answer the calls or something later.”

“You can’t be catching everything,” Laura argued, crossing her arms. “What if someone were to go to Bear Camp and ask for me?”

“Well, for one, Bear Safety Camp is in an extremely isolated region of Styria, but if someone were to go searching for the physical location of it, then they would realize that Bear Camp doesn’t actually exist and that you’re missing,” Carmilla said, her eyes not leaving the screen. “Which is why I need you to message all your little friends back and convince them that you are at Bear Safety Camp so your phone stops buzzing every two seconds and distracting me from concentrating on whether or not I have patrollers on my ass.”

_That_ was definitely going somewhere on the list of ‘Most words Carmilla’s spoken to her in one go.’

Laura opened up her location updates and clicked on the little icon for ‘Bear Safety Camp.’ A website popped up and started loading images of Styria and information on the camp. Laura moved through a few of the pages, grudgingly impressed at the level of detail given to the site. “How did you even pull this off?”

“J.P. helped."

Laura was quiet for a moment as she looked through the website. “Do I have connection on my phone back, then?”

“For now.”

“What’s stopping me from telling everyone the truth, then?” Laura asked curiously. Yeah, maybe pushing Carmilla right then wasn’t the best idea, but a girl’s got questions. And she was finally getting some halfway decent answers.

“As long as you don’t get the patrollers on my ass for it, nothing.”

“So… I can tell them I’m not at bear camp?”

“Fuck!” Carmilla snarled, making Laura jump in her seat. Laura’s heart was pounding and she was sure she’d gone too far, _why didn’t she just quit while she was ahead_ , Carmilla was going to kill her and everyone thought she was at Bear Camp so no one would realize she was dead when she realized that Carmilla’s swearing had been directed to the gadget she was working on and not to Laura’s inquiries.

Carmilla glanced up after a moment, seeming to have picked up on Laura’s silence. And possibly her heavy oh-my-god-I-thought-I-was-about-to-get-killed breathing. And maybe even her heart, with how loudly it was pounding in Laura’s ears.

“Sorry.”

Laura had just started to calm down but had to catch her breath a second time in her surprise. Did Carmilla Karnstein just apologize? Maybe she was dead. Not in heaven, no, definitely not with Carmilla there. Carmilla’s face was beautiful enough to be an angel’s, though.

But Laura was pretty sure angel’s faces shouldn’t make her want to sin. _Badly_. So maybe she was in hell.

Whatever momentary limbo she was in, Laura was brought back by Carmilla cursing again, this time noticeably softer. Which meant that she was (probably) very much alive and Carmilla Karnstein had apologized.

Carmilla huffed loudly after a minute, abruptly dropping the scraps of metal and her tools onto the table and closing her eyes briefly. “Just text your friends back and tell them you’re at the damn bear camp for now. When we’re further away from Styria we can talk about you telling them where you are.”

Laura watched as Carmilla got up from her table and stretched, making her way over to the window. Or maybe the large screen on the wall next to it. Or the table under the screen. It was sort of hard to predict with everything as messy as it was.

She looked down at her phone, ready to message her friends back when she remembered one of her thoughts from earlier.

“Hey, Carmilla?” Laura asked tentatively, finding Carmilla’s shape again where she was hunched over yet another screen. “How long is this ‘Bear Camp?’”

She wasn’t sure if Carmilla had heard her and was considering asking the question a second time more loudly when she got the response, “However long you want it to be, sweetheart.”

Wow, okay, that was…. unexpectedly nice. And generous. Laura bit her lip, hiding a smile as she looked back at her phone. Maybe Carmilla wasn’t as rude as she came off, especially when taking her apology from earlier into account.

“Or, you know, until you get into a horrible accident. Bears are dangerous, after all.”

Laura’s smile dropped and she glared hard at the back of Carmilla’s head.

“Just joking, creampuff.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yikes it's been a while


End file.
